{"id":233991,"date":"2025-10-23T02:58:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T02:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/233991\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T02:58:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T02:58:13","slug":"haas-set-to-rip-into-special-stefano-in-pacific-war-the-queenslander","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/233991\/","title":{"rendered":"Haas set to rip into \u2018special\u2019 Stefano in Pacific war \u2013 The Queenslander"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Joel Gould |
\n October 23, 2025\n <\/p>\n

\"Payne<\/p>\n

Payne Haas is feted by Samoa fans ahead of his showdown with Tonga\u2019s Stefano Utoikamanu.<\/p>\n

Samoa prop Payne Haas can\u2019t wait to clash with Tonga\u2019s Stefano Utoikamanu, but insists there is no bad blood between the pair.<\/p>\n

Haas got one over Utoikamanu in the NRL grand final when Brisbane beat Melbourne 26-22 in a cracker.<\/p>\n

The pair will resume hostilities on Sunday at Suncorp Stadium in a Pacific Cup blockbuster.<\/p>\n

Utoikamanu had lit the fuse for fire and brimstone before the Accor Stadium decider when he said he would \u201crun at\u201d Broncos he didn\u2019t like and accused some of them of being \u201cstuck up\u201d.<\/p>\n

Haas responded with a warning.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can say what they want,\u201d Haas retorted.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will be out there on Sunday and we\u2019ll see if that\u2019s still going to be thrown around.\u201d<\/p>\n

Haas grinned when asked about their \u201cfeud\u201d on Tuesday at the Samoan fan day.<\/p>\n

\u201cStefano is a special player and I can\u2019t wait to go up against him,\u201d Haas told AAP.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know he is going to be up for this game. He is proud of both cultures as he is Samoan and Tongan.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was very proud of what he did this year and I honestly can\u2019t wait to see him again out on the field.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"(L-R)Stefano Utoikamanu (l) and Payne Haas (r) will renew their club rivalry at international level. (Aap\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

Utoikamanu, who previously represented Samoa, has been copping a ribbing from his Tongan teammates during the week about his comments before the grand final.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been making fun of him every now and then while in camp but that\u2019s just the boys talking about it,\u201d co-captain Jason Taumalolo chuckled.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure Stefano doesn\u2019t need any more motivation going into this weekend. I\u2019m sure in the back of his head he will be thinking about being as good as he can and start strong against the Samoan pack that has some big bodies and big-time players.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously he was a bit unlucky in the grand final. A lot of stuff has been said but I\u2019m sure he will learn from that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"StefanoStefano Utoikamanu (c), in training with Tonga, is tipped to shine against Samoa. (Darren England\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

Former Wests Tigers prop Utoikamanu is a humble man off the field but Taumalolo said he always knew he would be a \u201cgreat\u201d player once he matured.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously what stands out is his size. He is one of the bigger front-rowers and is quite the workhorse,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has probably had his best season down at Melbourne.\u201d<\/p>\n

Haas was magnificent on his Samoan debut, playing the entire 80 minutes in the 24-18 loss to New Zealand.<\/p>\n

He switched international allegiance from Australia and was hailed by Samoa supporters at a fan day attended by 8500 people.<\/p>\n

\"PaynePayne Haas charges into the Kiwis defence in a stellar debut for Samoa in Auckland. (PR IMAGE PHOTO)<\/p>\n

\u201cThis whole experience is more than I ever expected. I didn\u2019t know about this,\u201d Haas said as he was surrounded by fans.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust the love that we have all received. I am very grateful and very happy I made this decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a great moment to debut. I just know how much this jersey means for myself and my family and my last name on my mum\u2019s side. Whenever I pull this jersey on I will give it my all.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been a long time coming. I always wanted to do this and play for Samoa for my blood lines.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0Haas said the clash with Tonga was \u201cvery important\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to win,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fans of both sides will be out in force, Tonga with their red sea and us with our blue sea.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are two little Pacific Island nations going at it on the world stage. You couldn\u2019t ask for more.<\/p>\n

\u201cTonga will be coming after us but our love for our brothers and this jersey will get us over the top.\u201d<\/p>\n

AAP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joel Gould | October 23, 2025 Payne Haas is feted by Samoa fans ahead of his showdown with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":233992,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-233991","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nrl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-national-rugby-league","11":"tag-nationalrugbyleague","12":"tag-nrl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233991\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}